Feds dropping illegal immigration cases

Homeland Security is reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against illegal-immigration suspects who have no serious criminal records.

By Susan Carroll

Published 10:37 pm, Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Homeland Security Department is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against illegal-immigration suspects who have no serious criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the efforts.

Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest about a month ago and has stunned some immigration attorneys in Texas, who've reported coming to court anticipating clients' deportations only to learn the government was dismissing their cases.

Richard Rocha, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Tuesday the review is part of the agency's broader, nationwide strategy to prioritize the deportations of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety.

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"Our agency focuses our limited resources on criminal aliens and those who are considered national security and public safety threats," Rocha said.

Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor "amnesty" program.

Raed Gonzalez, an immigration attorney who was briefed on the effort by homeland security's deputy chief counsel in Houston, said the agency confirmed it's reviewing cases nationwide, though not yet to the pace of the local office.

He said the others are expected to follow suit soon.

In a June 30 memo, ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton outlined the agency's priorities, saying it had the capacity to remove about 400,000 illegal immigrants annually - 4 percent of the estimated illegal immigrant population in the country.

The memo outlines priorities for the detention and removal system, putting criminals and threats to national security at the top of the list.

On Tuesday, ICE officials provided a copy of a new policy memo from Morton dated Aug. 20 that instructs government attorneys to review the court cases of people with pending applications to adjust status based on their relation to a U.S. citizen.

"I don't know what will happen now," said Simon Azar-Farr, an immigration lawyer in San Antonio for 20 years.

"My hope is they will follow a much more consistent approach in applying those provisions, even in the cases of those who may have a criminal record and it is minor, or the conviction or arrest occurred many, many years ago and they have been clean since then.

"Even though the memo is touted towards people who don't have criminal records, I think it leaves it open to the various district offices to use discretion."

On Tuesday, ICE officials provided a copy of a new policy memo from Morton dated Aug. 20 that instructs government attorneys to review the court cases of people with pending applications to adjust status based on their relation to a U.S. citizen.

He said DHS attorneys are conducting the reviews on a case-by-case basis. However, he said they are following general guidelines that allow for the dismissal of cases for defendants who have been in the country for two or more years and have no felony convictions.

In some instances, defendants can have one misdemeanor conviction, but it can't involve a DWI, family violence or sexual crime, Gonzalez said.

Opponents of illegal immigration were critical of the dismissals.

"They've made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.

"This situation is just another side effect of President (Barack) Obama's failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

"Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens."

Gonzalez called the dismissals a necessary step in unclogging a massive backlog in the immigration court system.

In June, there were more than 248,000 cases pending in immigration courts across the country, including about 23,000 in Texas, according to data compiled by researchers at Syracuse University.